Vapor IO Launches Vapor Edge, the End-to-End Platform for Building Out IoT and Edge Environments

Vapor IO, the next generation platform for hybrid and edge clouds, today announced Vapor Edge, a complete end-to-end platform for building out IoT and edge environments. Entering the new age of computing, where infrastructure is driven by data, Vapor IO is working with cloud operators, telcos, real estate holding companies and some of the world’s most innovative enterprises to build out the next generation cloud with Vapor Edge.

“The cloud as we know it is changing,” said Cole Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Vapor IO. “For the last decade, it’s been dominated by large, centralized data centers. But there is an emerging class of applications—including IoT, virtual and augmented reality, and mobile apps—where centralized data centers simply won’t work because compute, storage and network capacity must be near the application or device. With Vapor Edge, we’re paving the way for a truly decentralized data center and enabling cloud computing at the edge.”

Putting Compute Capacity at the Edge of the Network

By putting cloud capabilities at the edge of the network, Vapor Edge substantially speeds up interactions, removing latency and reducing network and compute load back to centralized data centers. Vapor Edge can process vast amounts of data locally, efficiently sharing only the most important results with centralized servers. For low latency applications, such as autonomous driving and virtual reality, Vapor Edge makes it possible to operate at scale, as each micro-datacenter on the edge can respond to nearby devices in microseconds.

“Vapor is taking a very sophisticated approach to enabling edge networks,” said Corey Bell, CEO of the Open Compute Project. “They are connecting to the underlying hardware in new ways to solve key challenges, such as remote operation and workload migration. This has always been a vision shared by the Open Compute Project and we are excited to see Open Compute hardware play a vital role in making edge computing practical, as customers deploy OCP accepted and inspired hardware in Vapor Edge environments.”

Vapor Edge Components

Vapor Edge consists of specialized software for remote operation and workload management, as well as patented hardware designs which are optimized for edge environments and manufactured by partners under license. Included are:

Vapor CORE: Operators use Vapor CORE software to remotely monitor and administer their Vapor Edge environments. Vapor CORE spans all of the centralized data center and edge machines, ingests hardware telemetry in real time, and provides operators with a way to remotely view and manage their edge capabilities.

Vapor Chamber: Optionally, operators use Vapor Chamber designs to build out the physical environment for Vapor Edge. The Vapor Chamber is a revolutionary circular racking system for servers, designed by Vapor IO, which is licensed to manufacturers who sell and distribute the system. The Vapor Chamber is tightly integrated with Vapor Edge software, and is ideal for use in more hostile edge environments, such as in cell towers and on rooftops. It is self-contained, extremely energy efficient and well-suited for remote operation. Customers can also retrofit existing equipment into a Vapor Edge environment, with or without Vapor Chambers.

Vapor IO’s software is built atop the Open Data Center Runtime Environment (OpenDCRE), an open source protocol created by Vapor IO for monitoring and responding to data center hardware, software and environmental characteristics in hybrid and edge environments. Vapor Edge integrates with public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, as well as popular private clouds, such as OpenStack and VMware Vsphere, as well as with modern container-driven systems, such as Mesosphere’s DC/OS and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s Kubernetes.

First Deployments

One of the first deployments of Vapor Edge will be with Centrepointe, a data center company located in the Czech Republic, which has entered into an agreement to purchase Vapor Edge technologies from Vapor IO and has partnered with Vapor IO to build out a 200-megawatt data center locally, called DataHub Verne. DataHub Verne will be one of the most modern, green and efficient data centers built to-date, and will provide low-latency edge capabilities to Prague, Frankfurt and the surrounding areas.

“With the Vapor IO technology and the Vapor Edge software, we’re able to build out and operate one of the most sophisticated data centers in the world, with edge capabilities to Prague and Frankfurt,” said John Stotter, CEO of Centrepoint. “DataHub Verne, our data center being built around Vapor IO technology, will be a state-of-the-art 150MW data center with modern edge capabilities. It will operate more efficiently than a typical facility of its size, and will cost 20-30% less to build.”

Product Information and Availability

Vapor Edge is available today for deployments in 2017. For more information on Vapor Edge, as well as to learn more about how Vapor IO is providing the next generation platform for hybrid and edge clouds, please visit http://www.vapor.io